1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, a storage medium, and a program, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, a storage medium, and a program, which allow a user to easily retrieve information from an electronic dictionary via a small-sized user-friendly display screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, paper is mainly used as a medium in publishing of books, newspaper, magazines, or the like. However, as great advances have been achieved in the computer technology and computer are becoming increasingly popular in a wide variety of fields, and networks have been well established, electronic publishing using no paper medium has also become popular.
Electronic publishing is suitable in particular for contents including a large amount of information, such as dictionaries, handbooks, encyclopedias, and illustrated reference books. For example, only a single CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) can store as large an amount of information as an entire content of an encyclopedia, which needs 30 books if it is described using a paper medium. Thus, many dictionaries, handbooks, encyclopedias are now published in the form of digital data including not only text data but also still image data, audio data, and motion image data, rather than in the form of paper books. Such digital data can be stored in storage media, personal computers, or playback apparatuses. A user can obtain desired information by performing retrieval in terms of an entry using a personal computer or a playback apparatus in which dictionary data is stored or on which a storage medium including dictionary data stored therein is mounted.
As a result of rapid popularization of the Internet, on-line dictionaries are also widely used. Such an on-line dictionary data is stored in a server and can be accessed by users via the Internet. Furthermore, a great advance is achieved in the technology of storage media, and small-sized high-capacity media have become available. As a result, it has become possible to realize small-sized electronic dictionaries.
However, for users who are unaccustomed to using a keyboard, it is very difficult to input a word to be retrieved, and such a user tends to use a conventional paper dictionary. In a case in which an electronic dictionary is used on a small-sized portable device (such as a small-sized electronic book player or a PDA (Personal Digital Data Assistants) which is now widely used because of its easy portability, a keyboard provided thereon is difficult to use because of its small size. In some cases, no keyboard is provided, and users must perform a complicated operation to input characters. This makes it difficult for a user to input characters in dictionary retrieval.
In a case in which a word to be retrieved is input without using a keyboard, it is desirable that a user can visually recognize the relative position of a character being retrieved. This is very convenient in particular for those users who are accustomed to using conventional paper dictionaries. That is, if a GUI (Graphical User Interface) indicates the relative position of a character being retrieved, the GUI can provide a dictionary retrieval function which can be easily used by users who are accustomed to using paper media.
However, if a plurality of characters (all or part of 26 alphabetic characters) are displayed on a single screen so that a user can visually recognize the relative positions of characters being retrieved and so that the user can select a desired character from the displayed characters, or so that a character being selected is displayed, the GUI for inputting characters without using a keyboard becomes complicated. In many cases, an electronic dictionary or a PDA has a small-sized display screen. If a GUI including a large number of characters in a small size is displayed on such a small-sized display screen, the characters are difficult to read, and thus inputting operations become difficult.
In a case in which dictionary retrieval is performed using an apparatus having a large-sized display screen, such as a personal computer, an electronic dictionary is generally used together with another software program such as a web browser or a word processor. In this case, many window screens are opened on a limited physical display screen, and thus there is also a need for a small-sized user-friendly window screen for use in retrieval of information from an electronic dictionary.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a technique which allows a user to easily retrieve information from an electronic dictionary via a display screen which can be easily handled even if it has a small size.